Spike In Thieves Stealing Entire Central AC Units

By Ben PopkenJuly 6, 2011

They work silently, leaving no trace behind. A Chicago neighborhood is on alert after the number of thefts of air conditioning units have jumped sharply in recent weeks. The robbers are after the copper inside, which they can resell for scrap, a favorite quick money-making method for drug addicts. But they’re not just cracking open the units and plundering the pipe, they’re lifting the entire central AC unit.

“I’ve just been going door-to-door, letting my neighbors know, look, our air conditioner got stolen,” one victim told CBS Chicago. “At first, they’re like, ‘You all have central air, what do you mean your air conditioner got stolen?'” “My air conditioner got stolen. So they came by and they’re like, ‘How in the world did they do that? Everyone is in awe.”

Residents have taken to enclosing their air conditioning in thick cages with multiple locks. If you live in an area where AC theft is a concern, you should also lock up the disconnect box to make it harder to get to the AC.